Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

A subtle but very important change is slowly happening behind the scenes of the UK’s consumer telecoms industry, as broadband and mobile providers start realising they need to adapt to the Competition and Markets Authority‘s (CMA) new guidance on unfair commercial practices, particularly around the complex issue of “price transparency“.

The relatively recent Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA), which contains various new price transparency provisions, officially attained Royal Assent on 24th May 2024. But as usual with these things, it took a bit longer for the CMA to produce the necessary guidance to help businesses know what they’d have to do in order to adapt to it, which finally happened on 18th November 2025.

The Guidance is naturally aimed at the companies that sell services to consumers, although as usual it doesn’t hurt for consumers to also be aware of these rules. The reason for this is that it could give you some additional ammunition to use, such as if ever you need to argue that a broadband or mobile provider misled you over its pricing (a few providers do still have a nasty habit of masking additional costs).

The new Guidance tackles such issues in a number of ways, albeit largely through requiring greater transparency and a clearer structure to the buying process. The full 58-page document contains all the necessary details and examples, but we’ve summarised a few of the key points below.

Key Price Transparency Rules

➤ The first interaction that many people have with their future service provider is often via an ‘invitation to purchase‘, which reflects when a trader gives information to consumers about a product and its price (i.e. this could be an advert or an item listing on a website etc.). This exists before the consumer makes an in-principle decision to purchase a product and before it is possible to make a purchase.

Traders are responsible for ensuring that the prices of the products presented in an invitation to purchase do not mislead consumers, in particular, the price presented should be “realistic, meaningful and attainable” for the product being advertised.

➤ The ‘total price‘ should be presented in the invitation to purchase in a clear and timely way that the consumer is likely to see and “must include any fees, taxes, charges or other payments” that the consumer will necessarily incur if they purchase the product. This includes any mandatory charges, even in early-stage advertising. If a consumer is later presented with new mandatory charges that were not disclosed at the outset, this is likely to breach the UCP provisions (rules).

Alternatively, if, because of the nature of the product, the price (or a part of it) cannot reasonably be calculated in advance, the invitation to purchase must include information that enables the consumer to calculate the non-calculable (parts of the) price. This will most commonly apply when the nature of the product means that the total price will depend on a consumer’s requirements. The information must be provided with as much prominence as the part of the total price that is calculable in advance and given in the invitation to purchase.

➤ Drip pricing is now prohibited. This reflects the practice of showing consumers an initial headline price for a product and subsequently introducing additional mandatory charges as consumers proceed with a purchase or transaction. In short, no more unexpected mandatory surcharges being added right at the end of the order process (e.g. if a hotel advertises a room for £100 and then adds an unexpected “weekend surcharge” of £25 per night right at the end of the order), unless of course the customer has specifically selected to add a truly optional extra feature.

➤ Partitioned pricing is “generally” prohibited. This reflects the practice of providing the component parts of a price without giving the overall total, which is now generally prohibited since it is not consistent with providing the ‘total price’ of the product. The requirement to provide the total price does NOT prevent a trader from offering consumers subsequent discounts so that the final price ends up being less than the originally advertised total price.

In practice, over the past few weeks and months, this has resulted in a number of broadband and mobile providers adjusting how they present their pricing, particularly with respect to charges for things like service activations, installations, and home delivery charges (usually used for routers). Some providers have already removed these charges entirely (i.e. absorbing them into monthly rental) or changed how they’re presented to be more transparent.

At the time of writing we still see a few telecoms providers, particularly at the smaller-scale end of the market, that probably need to do a bit more work to adjust for the new Guidelines. But most do appear to already be doing the right thing.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Broadband ISP Virgin Media (O2) has this morning confirmed that all new and existing Virgin TV 360 and Stream box customers with the ‘Sky Entertainment‘ channels (Sky Comedy, Sky Witness, and the soon to be relaunched Sky One) will soon also be able to access popular Sky Atlantic programming on channel 111, “at no extra cost“.

The addition of Sky Atlantic, which will take place on 1st April 2026, follows the news that HBO Max will also be available to subscribe to via Virgin TV 360 and Stream boxes when it launches in the UK next month. Sky Atlantic will give Virgin’s customers with the Sky Entertainment channels (c.1 million of them) access to view popular TV shows like ‘The Last Of Us’, ‘House of Dragon’, ‘Amadeus’ and many more.

New customers can take a Virgin TV package, including access to Sky Atlantic, by selecting a Virgin TV and broadband Flex bundle, with prices currently starting from £31.99 per month.

David Bouchier, VMO2’s Chief TV and Entertainment Officer, said:

“Our promise to our customers is simple – to offer seamless entertainment at incredible value – and the addition of Sky Atlantic on Virgin TV is testament to that. The channel is home to gripping drama and incredible stories from the UK and the US and has given us some of the biggest watercooler moments of our times. Now, over a million Virgin TV customers can enjoy Sky Atlantic with no added cost or action required.”

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The Government’s recently published Statement of Strategic Priorities (SSP) for telecommunications (here) appears to have rejected calls by some, but not all, alternative UK broadband networks for Ofcom to make access to run new fibre optic cables via Openreach’s (BT) existing cable ducts and poles cheaper in rural areas.

Network access provider Openreach is required to provide access to their existing cable ducts and poles via the regulated Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) product, which has been extremely successful. This enables rival networks (altnets) to run their own fibre optic cables via the incumbent’s existing infrastructure – cutting down on build costs, disruption and speeding up rollouts of gigabit-capable full fibre (FTTP) broadband.

However, some altnets have consistently argued (here, here and here) that such deployments are being hampered by the rules and high costs of harnessing the PIA product in rural areas. For example, the founder of Fibrus, Conal Henry, previously stated (here) that altnets must pay for the use on a per-metre basis, which he said was “disproportionately impacting rural areas“.

Rural properties are on average 200 metres away from their nearest neighbour, compared to just 10m in urban areas. As a result, Henry says it can cost altnets “almost twenty times more” to deploy new gigabit broadband lines to rural areas than in towns and cities.

The counterargument

On the flip side, the fact that rural builds cost significantly more than urban ones is nothing new, and it’s worth bearing in mind that Openreach will also suffer that impact when they build the infrastructure (they still need to gain a fair return on the investment for it to be viable).

The incumbent is also not magically immune to the realities of rural deployments being disproportionately more expensive than urban ones. This is partly because there are fewer premises to reach, and they’re often dispersed over a much wider area of difficult terrain. Finally, the incumbent has maintenance, repairs and other upkeep costs to consider too.

Openreach has previously argued that the prices they charge for PIA may actually be too low and that rivals don’t share access to their own infrastructure in the same way (note: altnets that receive public investment are often obliged to offer a degree of infrastructure access, but this is rarely as attractive as PIA). On the other hand, smaller altnets carry a lot of risk and often desire to protect the value of their asset vs those with Significant Market Power (SMP), such as Openreach – it’s not an even battlefield.

However, the argument over this – as spotted by the Telegraph (paywall) – appears to have already been partly settled inside the depths of the Government’s recently published SSP, which rejected the idea of Ofcom moving from a ‘No Undue Discrimination‘ (NUD) approach to an ‘Equivalence of Input‘ (EOI) approach.

In a NUD approach, Openreach must treat all the networks in a fair and transparent, but not necessarily identical way: different terms could be offered to different customers if the difference is justified. In an EOI approach, the same terms must be offered to all customers. One altnet proposed that, for the 20% of premises for which PIA charges are the highest, operators should pay a discounted price based on a national average price, that is, based on the total PIA cost Openreach needs to recover for all premises and the total number of premises. But the government disagreed.

Government Response

The government’s view is that a continuing with a NUD approach is the most appropriate and proportionate means by which to achieve a fast roll-out of fibre. We believe a change of approach could have a negative impact on roll-out if it leads to significant organisational and structural changes within Openreach. Additionally, a change would only have a limited positive impact on competition as Ofcom’s interpretation of NUD requires strict equivalence where possible, as set out in the regulator’s consultation on the Telecoms Access Review. Ofcom set out that any difference of treatment between Openreach and their competitors must not put the latter at a disadvantage in terms of cost, time or uncertainty. For new or upgraded services, Openreach would only be able to offer different terms in “exceptional” circumstances. We believe any change of approach would therefore create disruption for limited benefits. We also note that some altnets do not support a change of approach.

We do not agree Ofcom should move to a per-premise model of PIA charging for the most expensive rural areas. PIA charges are set so that Openreach can recover the cost of its physical infrastructure used by third parties, which we believe is an important principle of regulation. The changes proposed by the respondent mean that Openreach would no longer recover the full cost of its infrastructure. While they argue that the loss to Openreach will be negligible, these costs would accumulate over time and, even accounting for their SMP, it would be unfair to mandate Openreach to rent their infrastructure at a discounted price over any substantial period of time.

The proposed discount would also only apply to the 20% premises which use the highest length of the infrastructure network. This would be unfair to networks which connect premises which use a slightly shorter length of the network, as they would end up paying more for less use of the network.

Some stakeholders have shared changes to PIA rental charges could lead to lower prices in rural areas. DSIT has seen no evidence that higher operating costs (including PIA charges) in rural areas are driving up prices for consumers in those areas. Evidence suggests instead that price differences are more likely to be driven by overbuilding that is more common in urban areas, leading to operators offering discounts to gain market share. Furthermore, we have seen no evidence that lower PIA prices for operators in rural areas would lead to lower prices for consumers in those areas.

Conal Henry has already warned that the above decision may “all but put a stop to competitive rural broadband rollout … Decisions being made by this government are likely to establish a permanent digital divide between rural and urban Britain“, although wider economic challenges (e.g. rising build costs, higher interest rates and competition) have already resulted in quite a few altnets needing to scale-back or stop their FTTP builds in both urban and rural areas. Similarly, a number of altnets have, over the past 12-18 months, either withdrawn or scaled-back their Project Gigabit contracts in rural areas.

The future of PIA pricing and regulation for the next 5 years will be set next month, when Ofcom publishes their final Telecoms Access Review 2026 (TAR) statement. The expectation is that this may contain some tweaks for PIA pricing too (this is set by Ofcom, NOT Openreach), albeit clearly not the sort of major shift that has been discussed above.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Mobile operator Vodafone (VodafoneThree) has announced that they’ve deployed “dedicated” 5G and 4G mobile coverage to Aberdeen International Airport, which is one of Scotland’s busiest airports. But travellers will need to wait a “few months” more before the operator expands their fastest 5G Standalone (5GSA) technology to the same location.

The improvements follow the installation of a dedicated in-building 5G system by specialists Exchange Communications, which has previously conducted similar deployments at other busy locations, such as Southampton Airport in Southern England. The kit they deploy is usually multi-operator focused, thus Vodafone may not be the only mobile provider to benefit.

Andrea Donà, Chief Network Officer at VodafoneThree, said: “Our investment doesn’t stop at cities, towns and villages. We’re also ensuring our customers have the coverage they expect when visiting busy locations such as airports, stadiums, train stations and shopping centres. Aberdeen International is a great example of the work we are undertaking to improve our coverage for our customers and another clear signal of our ability to move at pace in our wider commitment of building the UK’s best network.”

Opened in July 1934, Aberdeen International Airport now serves over 3 million passengers each year and supports more than 3,400 jobs locally.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Software development firm Bluehouse Technology has launched a new product, which is designed to make it much easier for alternative UK broadband providers to launch their own white-label style virtual eSIM based mobile (MVNO) network service – enabling them reach to customers beyond their physical fibre footprints.

We only rarely write about this side of the market (products targeted specifically at ISPs/altnets), but this one does offer more details than usual, which some consumers might also find interesting for background. The Bluehouse MVNO solution promises that ISPs will be able to “retain a substantial 60% share of net revenue” from their service, which is said to include various features (e.g. full Ofcom compliance, number porting, a hosted web portal, and an integrated travel eSIM service to enhance the customer proposition etc.).

The solution includes example retail offers — ranging from 10GB to unlimited data — that are said to be “benchmarked to be cheaper than all major UK operators, all on flexible rolling 30-day contracts“. But the actual end-user pricing would of course depend upon what the retail ISP chooses to charge.

The proposition itself is said to focus on a low-cost, low-risk model. The set-up fees are limited to a web portal fee of several thousand pounds and a monthly platform fee of several hundred pounds. Bluehouse promises that providers can go live with their own branded mobile service through this within just 6-8 weeks. The suggestion appears to be that an ISP using this could achieve a Year 1 break-even with as few as 350 subscribers and tickover thereafter of around 150 subs.

Chandru Mullaparthi, CEO of Bluehouse Technology, told ISPreview:

“We don’t just write code; we build software that businesses stake their operations on. Our MVNO solution is building on the success of our whitelabel products in the travel eSIM market and reflects this responsibility, providing Alt-Nets with a reliable, managed, and hosted platform that delivers immediate value to their business and their customers”.

One potential issue here is that eSIM providers have become extremely common over the past couple of years, so much so that we half expect the local pub to start offering its own eSIM at some point. The catch is that this does make for quite a crowded and increasingly confusing market.

At the same time many Altnets are already struggling with issues of weak brand familiarity and reputation (partly driven by uncertainty around consolidation), so it remains debatable whether adding a mobile service on top of that is going to be much of a goose to lay the golden egg.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Ofcom has published their 9th annual (2026) monitoring report into the Net Neutrality guidelines, which were originally established to prevent unfair blocking or slowing of access to legal websites and internet services by broadband ISPs and mobile operators. Overall the UK telecoms regulator has “not identified any significant cause for concern“, although EE may have an issue with tethering restrictions.

The original rules meant that service providers couldn’t easily impose excessive restrictions against internet traffic and should treat almost all of it equally (i.e. they should avoid favouring specific services, such as by blocking or slowing access to rivals). However, there were some exceptions to this, such as when providers need to impose general traffic management, parental controls, court ordered blocks or for security measures (e.g. anti-virus/spam filtering) etc.

Ofcom then further softened these guidelines in 2023 (here), such as by allowing providers to offer premium quality retail packages (e.g. those with tweaks to deliver lower latency) and support for specialised services so that providers can deliver specific content and applications that need to be optimised (e.g. a limited allowance for network slicing on 5G mobile).

The regulator’s 2023 review also clarified some previous conflicts around the issue of zero rating (i.e. free mobile data), such as for cases where mobile operators excluded some websites giving a social benefit from being included in a customer’s billed data usage (e.g. those offering public health info. and support during the COVID-19 pandemic).

Suffice to say the latest report found no significant problems with any of the related monitoring areas. “We have not identified any significant cause for concern with respect to ISPs’ approaches to net neutrality, which were mostly unchanged from last year,” said the regulator.

Ofcoms Findings for Last Year (Net Neutrality)

The quality of fixed and mobile internet access services continues to improve as technology develops:

• The availability of the latest technologies for fixed broadband and mobile has increased since last year. As of July 2025, full fibre availability has grown from 69% to 78% of residential premises, and 5G coverage outside premises from at least one mobile network operator (MNO) has extended from 90%-95% to 94%-97% (very high to high confidence levels).

• Fixed broadband performance has improved, with average speeds growing by 28% (July 2024 to July 2025), primarily due to the increase in availability and take up of full fibre and gigabit-capable services. Also, more consumers are taking up 5G services and thus benefitting from the improved performance of this technology.

• Our analysis of ISPs’ network utilisation reports indicates that incidents of congestion on fixed networks remain rare, and while they happen more often on mobile networks, congestion is generally infrequent.

We have not identified any significant cause for concern with respect to ISPs’ approaches to net neutrality, which were mostly unchanged from last year:

• The ISPs continued to implement some traffic management measures on an ongoing basis, including blocking access to illegal content and age restricted content for under 18s and blocking or redirecting malicious traffic. In addition, we saw a slight increase in the use of exceptional traffic management, with a few ISPs using targeted measures to manage congestion during particularly busy peaks in traffic.

• Some mobile ISPs continued to offer a limited number of commercial zero-rating packages which were largely the same as last year. This included two open offers that zero-rated access to applications within a particular category of content (e.g. social media) and two closed offers zero-rating a specific service or select group of applications.

• As per last year, the key differentiator for fixed broadband retail packages was speed, while for mobile it was data allowance with some mobile ISPs also providing different speed tiers. Similarly, many of the specialised services described in last year’s report were provided again this year, specifically a drone service, multicast and voice prioritisation services.

• Some ISPs used the additional clarity and flexibility provided by our guidance to offer innovative new services. One ISP offered premium packages with a network priority boost triggered during congestion, while another has recently introduced a Speed Boost add-on which prioritises a customer’s traffic when activated. We also saw one ISP undertake a non-commercial trial of 5G slicing. However, as per last year’s report, ISPs have not made major changes to their approaches to net neutrality based on our guidance.

• We are engaging with one ISP in relation to its tethering policy.

The reference above to a ‘Speed Boost‘ add-on reflects the one that Vodafone recently launched (here), although we have seen others with a similar sort of service. Ofcom also mentions that they’re “engaging with one ISP in relation to its tethering policy“, which in reading through the report appears to reflect a concern with how EE (BT) restricts tethering (i.e. sharing your mobile broadband connection with other devices) of more than 12 devices on a regular basis.

“As explained in our guidance, restrictions on tethering are likely to be incompatible with the requirement on ISPs to treat all traffic equally irrespective of the terminal equipment used. We are engaging with EE on this matter to ensure its polices are fully aligned with the Regulation,” said Ofcom.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Broadband ISP and mobile operator EE (BT) appears to have recently discounted their ‘Premium’ 1.6Gbps (110Mbps upload) fixed line package for new customers to just £41.99 per month (inc. free installation), which comes with their latest WiFi 7 router (Smart Hub Pro) and WiFi Extender 7 Pro device.

The package itself also includes unlimited usage, UK and Ireland based support, their Keep Connected Promise (i.e. customers will be given a Mini Hub powered by EE’s mobile broadband network to keep you connected until the fixed line returns), Advanced Web Protection and various other WiFi enhancements.

The downside is that EE do apply mid-contract price hikes, thus that price of £41.99 becomes £45.99 From 31st March 2026 and then £49.99 From 31st March 2027. Credits to Kenneth for spotting the discount.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Over the past few months we’ve noted how quite a few existing customers of UK ISP Virgin Media’s (O2) home broadband packages are, at the end of their first contract term, now being offered significant automatic extensions to their existing discounted service price – often lasting for another 12-months.

The emails, which typically come from an official vm****@************co.uk address, are not to be confused with the usual mandatory End-of-Contract Notification (ECN) letters (those are sent separately and often arrive a bit later than this one – usually with less attractive deals) and have even resulted in some people questioning whether they’re a scam, due to the attractive nature of the offer. But in most cases, the offers are in fact real.

The significant benefit of this, other than the obvious ability to continue benefitting from the same low price as you were on before, is that customers who receive the message don’t have to play the usual haggling game with Virgin Media’s retentions department at the end of their term. Virgin’s standard post-contract prices can be steep, which would normally make negotiation essential to avoid a huge price hike (Retentions Tips).

One other benefit is that customers who accept this offer will NOT need to take out a new contract to benefit, although annual mid-contract price hikes will continue to apply just as they did under the original term.

Example Email from Virgin Media

Good News!
We’ve extended your discount for 12 months

Hello XXXXXXXXXXX,

You currently enjoy our Broadband bundle for the discounted rate of £??? a month, which will end on ???????? 2026.

As a valued customer of ours, we want to make sure we continue to offer you the very best deal we can. As your current discount is about to expire, we will apply the same* discounted rate for another 12 months, starting from ?????????? 2026.

What this means is you’ll keep enjoying our Broadband bundle uninterrupted and at the same great price* with no fuss and no new contract.

Thanks for being with us

The Virgin Media team

* Prices will increase every April in line with your T&Cs

This email is separate to the one we send out near the end of your contract, which will outline all your options, including options to renew your contract. The details within this email were correct as at ?? February 2026.

Remember, we will never ask you for personal information via email.

Please do not reply to this email.

A spokesperson for Virgin Media confirmed that they first started making such offers back in mid-2025 and added that they are “constantly evolving and reviewing our products and services to ensure we’re giving our customers the best possible experience with us“. But they also confirmed that such offers are NOT being proactively made to every single customer nearing the end of their minimum contract period.

Sadly, the provider declined to clarify which groups were being targeting with this discount, although we have noted that many of those receiving the emails were broadband-only (solus) customers. Subscribers who don’t receive this specific promotion will of course continue to receive less attractive deals via the usual ECN letters (in that case you may have better luck by contacting their retentions team). Credits to Scott, Mark and Barry for highlighting this offer to us.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Press Release

Telefónica activates its commercial Edge Computing services for businesses and administrations as part of its leading deployment plan in Europe

The company has taken a new step in this pioneering Edge project and now offers B2B (Business to Business) services in five nodes, located in Madrid, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao, and A Coruña.

The productive ecosystems around these cities have Telefónica’s first Edge-based services, benefiting from open, differentiated, and interconnected infrastructures capable of providing large computing and data storage capacities at the edge. This will enable companies to enjoy lower latency and greater efficiency in their processes, from the technological vanguard associated with this new wave of digital transformation for sectors such as industry and society in general.

Telefónica’s Edge Plan envisages 17 nodes in this first phase for the current year. Of that total, 12 infrastructures are already deployed: the five corresponding to Madrid, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao, and A Coruña, all with B2B services; and seven more nodes, located in Madrid (its second node), Barcelona, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, Valladolid, Terrassa, and Merida.

This year, five more locations will be added to these 12 nodes: Zaragoza, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Gijón, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and Santiago de Compostela. This means that by 2026, Telefónica will have 17 nodes, which will gradually activate their commercial Edge services from differentiated infrastructures, adding to the leading communications networks that the company accredits for fixed (FTTH fiber) and mobile (5G Stand Alone SA) technology, and taking advantage of the benefits offered by Open Gateway APIs.

Telefónica recently partnered with CAF (Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles) to launch the first European B2B pilot integrating Edge and 5G SA capabilities applied to the railway sector. Thanks to Edge, CAF can deploy interior perception solutions based on artificial vision without the need to install processing nodes in each car, maintaining low latency and ensuring processing close to the asset. Following this innovation project, Telefónica is now beginning to market its Edge services.

Telefónica identifies needs, collaborates with the necessary players, and provides solutions that were not feasible until the emergence of Edge, which powers applications and use cases. The new services allow information to be processed as close as possible to the activity, factory, office, store, or business, reducing latency, dependencies, and risks, which represents an evolution of the Cloud offering. From this unique position in the Spanish market, Telefónica Empresas is launching two levels of services: Edge Básico and Smart Edge, adaptable to each case and to the requests of each company. The portfolio is supported by the TTCP (Telefónica Tech Cloud Platform) service operated by Telefónica Tech, to offer the advantages of Edge from the infrastructures.

Basic Edge: capillarity and sovereignty

The Basic Edge is based on the capillarity and sovereignty of this deployment, through a stable and predictable Edge infrastructure. This static level brings the Cloud closer and ensures data control, in compliance with sovereignty requirements according to the required regulatory framework, whether national, regional, or even local. Each node defines an availability zone, allowing companies and administrations to deploy their applications with additional guarantees of business continuity and enhanced communications resilience.

In terms of access to a node from a factory, store, or business, when the customer has Telefónica fiber (FTTH), the route that traffic follows between both locations is highly optimized and remains within the service region, reducing network hops.

Edge Basic opens up a range of sovereign cloud services, including advanced computing capacity, thanks to virtual machines with GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), specialized units for high-performance AI computing. Companies and institutions will be able to use these GPUs in service mode, with low latency and in a sovereign manner, without having to make the corresponding initial investment.

It also incorporates sovereign AI capabilities through agents and adaptability with RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation), which provide flexibility, accuracy, and scalability. Basic Edge relies on the best secure and controlled storage solutions, close to the data to avoid movement to the public cloud. The service also includes comprehensive license management for the main business solutions that the customer needs.

Smart Edge: mobility and dynamism

The next level in terms of services offered is the dynamic Smart Edge, with the advantages of mobility for real-time application operation: low-latency connectivity in critical processes with the possibility of operating services on the move or in a distributed manner, all while bringing AI closer to the point where business activity takes place.
This intelligent and dynamic service is capable of adding key advantages such as selecting the optimal node at the right time and instantiating applications, i.e., creating a single, functional operational copy (instance), allowing it to be executed in memory under the direction of the user, who chooses when it is in operation. The Smart Edge service provides access to the chosen node via FTTH or 5G SA, depending on preferences, with the option to request quality of service (QoS) and private 5G access points (APN).

Telefónica’s Edge connects to the company’s next-generation fixed and mobile networks, which stand out in Spain for their coverage and capillarity, a footprint that is reinforced by the creation of 17 nodes, both on the mainland and in the archipelagos. The facilities chosen for deployment are located in former copper exchanges converted into Edge centers, in compliance with high availability requirements and the necessary security conditions.

This enables the next generation of advanced services, with enormous potential in sectors such as Industry 4.0: mobile robotics, logistics management, traceability and inventory solutions, automation and digitization, production line robotics, predictive maintenance, data analytics, operator assistance and safety, fleet management, route optimization, and storage measures. The Edge will also be crucial in other areas such as logistics, retail, ports, mass communications, digital twins, and autonomous driving.

Sovereignty to control data

The nodes function as small, low-latency data centers to process, analyze, and store data, and thanks to Edge technology, all of this is executed as close as possible to the source of the information, unlike large data centers or centralized cloud infrastructures. Edge computing is distinguished by its scalable and efficient architecture, capable of managing information generated by a large number of devices. In addition to the high availability and elasticity of the cloud, edge computing adds technological features and greater control over data, which contributes to strengthening digital sovereignty within a framework of local regulations.

This deployment opens up the option of reducing technological dependence on service providers with platforms based outside the European Union. Instead of a closed, centralized solution owned by a large cloud provider, Telefónica’s Edge Plan offers an open, decentralized, multi-provider model in which interfaces are shared and interoperability is guaranteed, benefiting the ecosystem and, of course, future customers.

The project is part of an Initiative of European Common Interest (IPCEI) coordinated by the European Commission to strengthen the digital capabilities of European industry. Telefónica España’s proposal was the highest rated nationally in June 2021 and received the Commission’s backing. This approval enabled its financing through the Spanish Government’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, accelerating the creation of a network of sovereign Edge nodes that reinforce the country’s digital autonomy and contribute to Europe’s.

At the Mobile World Congress (MWC) being held in Barcelona from March 2 to 5, Telefónica will present its latest developments in this area. On Wednesday, March 4, at 9:30 a.m., the session “Immediate Future: Leading the Low-Latency 5G Edge” will take place at the company’s stand in the Agora, with Alejandro Alonso, Innovation Expert at Telefónica Spain; Yolanda Bueno, Marketing Manager for Infrastructure and Cloud for B2B at Telefónica Spain, and Igor López Orbe, Head of Communications & Cybersecurity Center of Excellence at CAF.

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Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The SIM-Only mobile operator Spusu, which holds a virtual operator (MVNO) agreement to harness EE’s 4G and 5G (mobile broadband) network, has this week announced that they’ve just reduced roaming data prices across 115 countries – including many popular and long-haul destinations.

The latest changes, which came into force at the start of 2026, are being complemented by the introduction of a new roaming lookup tool on its website. This tool allows customers to quickly search for individual countries and view relevant roaming prices in advance.

As part of the latest roaming update, five destinations now cost just £2 per GB for roaming data, including the United States, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia and Serbia. Roaming prices have also been reduced in a further 110 countries worldwide.

In addition, several destinations that were previously in higher-priced zones now cost just £4 per GB. This includes Armenia, Guernsey, the Channel Islands, Indonesia, the Isle of Man, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Madagascar, Senegal, Taiwan and Togo. Other increasingly popular destinations, including Montenegro, have seen roaming prices cut by 25%, while Georgia and Albania have also seen price reductions compared to previous rates.

Christian Banhans, MD of spusu, said:

“Since launching in the UK, our focus has been on offering fairer mobile pricing and putting customers first. International roaming is a key part of that. Roaming is one of the areas where customers are most likely to worry about cost, especially when travelling outside the EU.

By reducing prices across more than 100 countries and continuing to review our roaming rates, we’re making it easier for our customers to stay connected wherever they go, without having to second-guess how much it’s going to cost them.”

We should point out that these changes are likely occurring on other operators too, given Spusu UK’s status as a virtual operator.